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 Engineer Williamson, dispatched to search for sites to mark the entrance to Yaquina Bay, had recommended building a seacoast light at jutting Yaquina Head, four miles north of the estuary. He maintained that a light here was preferable to previously proposed range lights at the mouth of the bay. Williamson's detailed report was apparently overruled, since the board ultimately approved plans for a harbor light-an integrated tower and keeper's dwelling atop the bluff at the north side of Yaquina Bay. Established 3 November 1871, the three-story structure was fitted with a fifth-order, fixed Fresnel lens. Before the new station was finished, however, government administrators had decided to go ahead with a more powerful light at Yaquina Head. An overriding factor was the discovery that Yaquina Bay Light was useless to southbound shipping; rugged Yaquina Head was obstructing its north-directed beams. The Yaquina Head station began operation in August 1873 and the Yaquina Bay Light station was shut down less than fourteen months later.
By the late 1940s, officials had announced plans to demolish the much-decayed lighthouse. Local residents, stressing the historical importance of the structure, strongly objected. Concerned citizens formed the Lincoln County Historical Society to save the property. After years of community involvement, state officials agreed the site was worth preserving and leased it to LCHS for use as a museum. During the 1970s, the Yaquina Bay station came under the aegis of the Oregon Parks Dept, whose crews accomplished a fullscale restoration of the lighthouse building and furnished it with period pieces loaned by the Oregon Historical Society. After an official ceremony, the lantern was relit on 7 December 1996. The lighthouse currently operates as a museum within Yaquina Bay State Recreation Site (see Notes). Viewing spot: On site. Directions: Access from US 101. From the north, tUM right (west)
at the north end of the Yaquina Bay Bridge (lighthouse sign) and
follow the access road 0.15 miles to the st~tion grounds. From
the south, turn right immediately after crossing the Yaquina Bay
Bridge (lighthouse sign), bearing right (under the bridge) for
0 2 miles, onto the access road to the station grounds. A 150-foot
paved walkway leads from the parking area to the lighthouse. Notes: The lighthouse is open all year, weather permitting: daily noon-4 (donations). Guided tours. Visitors may climb stairs to the watch room (lantern room closed). The Lighthouse...shall be lighted and the lights exhibited for the benefit of mariners punctually at sunset daily... ...Every evening, half an hour before sunse, the keepers provided with a lighting lamp will ascent to the lantern of the tower and commence lighting the lamp, so that the light may have its full effect by the time twilight ends. Lighthouse lights are to be kept burning brightly, free
from smoke...during the entire nightfrom sunset to sunrise...Lightkeepers
are required to keep a carefull watch ...and see that the lights
under their care are kept properly trimmed throughout each night:
and during thick stormy weather those keepers who have no assistants
must ...watch the light during the entire night...."
Yaquina Bay Lighthouse was active only for three years (1871 to 1874). When Yaquina Head Lighthouse was built, there was no longer a need for this one and it was deactivated. Years later in the l940s this lighthouse was almost demolished. The weather-beaten old building was rescued by the Lincoln County Historical Society. Today Yaquina Bay Lighthouse is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and is a part of Yaquina Bay State Recreation Site. Open daily as a museum, it looks very much as it did in 1871. The main floor and second floor rooms are open to the public with a gift shop in the basement. The public can go up in the tower to the top of the landing where the keeper had a bed and desk. The metal ladder going from there stralght up to the light room is off limits for safety reasons. And you won't see any ghosts on your visit. This lighthouse and museum are not haunted, in spite of what you may have heard. A, story written as a work of fiction by Lischen M. Miller (sister of poet loaquin Miller) titled "The Haunted Lighthouse" in Pacific Monthly, Volume 2,1899, was retold over and over down through the years until people started believing it. Because the lighthouse is on state park property, the camp hosts at South Beach State Park spend part of their time at the Yaquina Bay Lighthouse museum giving tours. The volunteer group, Yaquina Lights, Inc., helps give tours, helps maintain the building and furnishings, and runs the gift shop. New plans are underway to build an interpretive center next door that will be a replica of the U.S.Lifesaving station at South Beach. Yaquina Bay Lighthouse is located in Newport at the north end
of Yaquina Bay Bridge and is open daily from noon to 4 p.m. except
11 a.m. to 5 p.m. in the summer. For more information contact
the museum (541-265-5679) or Yaquina Lights, Inc. (541-574-3129).
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For
more than a century, the Yaquina Bay property saw an unusual parade
of tenants. Among them, US Army engineers "lived in"
beginning in 1888, while overseeing construction of the stone
jetties at the mouth of the river From 1908 until 1915, US Life-Saving
Service crews made the place a full-fledged station. After the
agency was absorbed into the Coast Guard, the latter branch built
a lookout tower next to the light and stayed on until 1933.
Built
of wood, this white frame house has the 40-foot light tower attached.
It was one of four wood frame lighthouse structures built in Oregon
and is the only one remaining. The other three were the Willamette
River Lightholise huilt on pilings at the confluence of the Columbia
and Willamette rivers, Desdemona Sands Lighthouse on pilings at
the Columbia's mouth, and Point Adams Lighthouse where Fort Stevens
State Park is today.